Star Wars
[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars Star Wars] is a space opera media franchise started in 1976 with Alan Dean Foster 's script novelization Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker '', available by 2005 as "''Star Wars IV: A New Hope", inspired to George Lucas's script for the then-in-development colossal space opera film Star Wars, first released in 1977 and known by 1981 as "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope". The franchise, set "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" where extraterrestrial humans coexist with other species, and features futuristic technology (holograms, hyperdrives, laser-powered blasters, droids...), usually focuses on a mystic force field named "the Force", which can be used by individuals (such as the Jedi and the Sith) to obtain supernatural powers. The franchise is divided in two continuities valid for two different canons: Star Wars Legends and the unnamed continuity established when The Walt Disney Company acquired Star Wars and its home company, Lucasfilm, Ltd., partially rebooting the franchise. Star Wars mainly consists of a World-famous film series, some TV series, many TV specials, many kinds of printed media (including many famous comics and a role-playing game), and is known for many elements which became popular culture icons, such as lightsabers, Imperial ordinance starfighters and stormtroopers, Darth Vader's armor and mask,... Star Wars must not be confused (as some unexpert people do) with Star Trek, a concurrent media franchise. Main description The many and many canonical Star Wars works take place in an unnamed galaxy and in an unknown past date. One of the most important elements of the saga is the Force, which, according to character Obi-Wan Kenobi, is "an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.", and is divided in two "sides": the Light side (generally used benevolently) and the Dark side (generally used malevolently and usually making people unable to be "get out" of it if used). Some particular individuals are able to use the Force to obtain supernatural powers, such as telekinesis, ESP or mind manipulation, and are divided in Light and Dark side users groups, mainly the Jedi (Light) and the Sith (Dark) knighthood orders. The ususal weapon of Force-users is the lightsaber (also known as "laser sword"), a torch-like object emanating a cylindrical colorful energy beam which can be used to cut solid matter, heat, duel with other lightsabers and reflect laser beams. Another common topic in Star Wars is interstellar spaceflight, made possible by hyperdrives that pull spacecraft to the speed of light and then into a parallel dimension named "hyperspace". Spacecraft that travel in hyperspace cannot be tracked, but they can be slowed down to "realspace" using advanced interdictor technology and can be influenced and damaged by realspace gravity sources. Hyperspace is depicted, when entered, as distorted line-like images of stars and, when the subject is in the deep of it, as a three-dimensional blue tunnel-like shape too much similar to itself to measure any sizes. The first film of the saga, the 1977 masterpiece Star Wars ''(known by 1981 as "''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope"), takes place between the year 0 BBY ("Before the Battle of Yavin") and the year 0 ABY ("After the Battle of Yavin") and introduces the viewer to the galaxy in the midst of the early Galactic Civil War (Reboot: 0 BBY-5 ABY; Legends: 2 BBY-19 ABY). Two later films (set in 3 and 4 ABY) formed "the original trilogy" of the saga (which was meanwhile, expanded with three TV films, two cartoon series, various printed materials, some video games and countless merchandising objects), but many characters and events mentioned in the trilogy were left unexplained, while many names of characters, locations, concepts and objects mentioned in the script were left unused. Between 1999 and 2005 other three films, incorporating this elements were released, forming "the prequel trilogy" (set between 32 and 19 BBY), often focusing on the Clone Wars (22-19 BBY), mentioned in Star Wars. The same conflict inspired further spin-off material, including two cartoon series and one animated film. In 2014, The Walt Disney Company acquired the whole Star Wars franchise (except for the first film) and its production company, Lucasfilm, Ltd. (which, however, owns the rights for the film, de facto selling it to Disney). On the 24th May, 2014, Disney partially rebooted the franchise, declaring non-canonical every work of the "Star Wars Expanded Universe" (defined as every work except for the original trilogy films, the prequel trilogy films, and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film and TV series), rebranding it as "Star Wars Legends", enabling to produce further spin-offs, the three "sequel trilogy" films (set between 34 and 35 ABY) and the three "Anthology" films (set in various BBY dates). Films Following is a list of Star Wars films canonical in the rebooted continuity and the main differences between the original versions and the restorations and modifies, for Star Wars Legends media see "Star Wars Legends". Star Wars (known by 1981 as "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope"; 1977) 1977 Star Wars original trilogy theatrical film. Written and directed by George Lucas; produced by Gary Kurtz (original version) and Rick McCallum (Special Edition). Note: The film has been altered multiple times throughout the years, and different theatrical, television or home video editions could have major divergences; the version considered canonical is the latest one, currently being the 2014 Blu-ray Disc's or the 2018 streaming edition (the latter having slight differences to all other ones in the opening whiles). An opening crawl explains that the galaxy is in a civil war between the tyrannical Galactic Empire and the rebellious Alliance to Restore the Republic. The latter, "striking from a hidden base" has obtained its first major victory against the former, stealing digital blueprints of a huge space station capable of destroying an entire planet: the Death Star. In year 0 BBY, starship [https://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tantive_IV Tantive IV], owned by Imperial Senate member Princess Leia of Alderaan, secretly being a Rebel leader, is chased by an Imperial warship (commanded by the evil, cybernetic warlord Darth Vader) over the skyes of Tatooine. As the ship is captured, Leia puts the plans inside R2-D2 (a binary-only-speaking astromech droid), which lands on the planet with his counterpart C-3PO (an easily scared protocol droid), and falls under the ownership of young Luke Skywalker and his uncle and aunt; Luke discovers part of a message inside Artwo's memory from Leia to someone named "Obi-Wan Kenobi", who Threepio does not remember, although Artwo says to belong itself to Kenobi. Luke correctly guesses that Obi-Wan is actually a hermit he knew as "Old Ben Kenobi", who finds the complete message inside the droid's memory, realizing it is a request for help, saying him to take Artwo to Leia's homeworld of Alderaan. Obi-Wan later reveals to Luke that he is a Jedi, and can use "the Force" to have supernatural skills, and that his father was a Jedi, too, until he was killed by Kenobi's apprentice, Darth Vader, and, giving Luke his Jedi lightsaber, he invites him to go to Alderaan with him, a proposal he initially refuses, until he finds that the Imperial Zeta Squad has killed his relatives while searching Artwo and Threepio. On the Death Star, sadistic officer and politician Wilhuff Tarkin communicates to other Imperials, including Vader, that the station has become fully operational and that the Senate has been melted, and now they have full control over their regions of the galaxy, but, after another officer comments about Vader's behavior, the latter uses the Force to choke him, confirming that he is Kenobi's apprentice, and, later, together with Tarkin, he blackmails Leia into telling them where the Rebel base is, pointing the Death Star's stuperlaser against Alderaan (an event known as "the Disaster"), and, when she reveals it is on Dantooine, he destroys the planet the same. Obi-Wan, Luke and the droids find a starship capable of transporting them to Alderaan: the heavily modified freighter Millennium Falcon, owned by smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca. The viewer later acknowledges (thanks to two scenes, both controversially digitally altered multiple times over the years) that Solo is in debt with Tatooine crime lord Jabba the Hutt, who blackmails him by saying that he will put a bounty on him. The six fly away under Imperial land and space fire, but, on their arrival, they find only an asteroid field and what appears to be a small moon. As an Imperial TIE/LN fighter flies by, Han follows it to open fire, but, as Obi-Wan soon realizes "that's no moon... it's a space station": they have fallen into a trap. The ship is captured and taken on the station, being the Death Star itself, but the six heoroes hide and, having stunned two stormtroopers, they disguise themselves as them, discovering that Leia is held captive: while Obi-Wan deactivates the battlestation's tractor beam that holds the Falcon, Han (after being promised a reward), Luke and Chewie free Leia and, after some misadventures, find that Obi-Wan has engaged a fateful lightsaber duel with his former apprentice: Lord Vader himself. Obi-Wan sacrifices himself, becoming "one with the Force", as the absence of his corpse confirms, as the Falcon escapes to the real Rebel base, on moon Yavin IV, where the Alliance analyzes the plans, discovering a small leak in a circa 2-meters-wide shaft in a trench on the station's surface, which, if attacked with proton torpedoes, would generate a chain reaction resulting in the total destruction of the Death Star itself. The Rebels soon discover that the Imperials were tracking the Falcon, and, as the battlestation is rapidly approaching the moon, an attack cannot wait to come, but Han decides that the money Leia gave him is enough and departs to Tatooine. As the Battle of Yavin begins, Luke pilots T-65B X-wing fighter Red Five, attacking the Death Star with other Rebels. The Empire soon realizes that starfighter action is the only useful countermeasure against the tiny and fast incoming spacecraft, which starts to enter the station's equatorial trench, where the shaft is. TIE/LNs provoke some losses among the Rebels and severely damage Artwo (who is flying with Luke). As Red Five nears the weakness, Vader himself boards his personal fighter and opens fire on Rebel X-wings and, as he is about to kill Luke, he has just the time to state that "the Force is strong with this one" and is bounced away in outer space as the Falcon attacks: Han has decided to stay. Luke nears the shaft and hears Obi-Wan's voice suggesting to "use the Force": he fires two proton torpedoes and destroys the whole space station (killing Tarkin), just as it is about to devastate Yavin IV. At the end of the film, Han and Luke are awarded by Leia (though Chewbacca is also present) and Artwo is repaired: the Alliance has succeded in defeating the Empire. * The film does first mention a great number of elements later made clear in the prequel trilogy. * The scene featuring Jabba the Hutt discussing with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) was filmed with the former, instead of the slug-like alien featured in the concept artworks, being a fat humanoid in furry dressing (portrayed by Declan Mulholland, possibly being a stand-in for a later special effects-based alien), but it was deleted from the final cut of the picture. Meanwhile, the character of "Jabba the Hut sic" (a "Jabba" is mentioned in the film) started being mentioned in much of the franchise and appearing as a walrus/humanoid hybrid in Marvel's Star Wars comics, and a man named "Heater", very similar to Mulholland's portrayal and sometimes mistook by others as Jabba was introduced in some media. In 1997, the Special Edition re-release of the film had the scene re-inserted with Jabba being a CGI-created Hutt (with Mulholland's voice replaced by Huttese-language phrases), but the depiction, having big Cheshire Cat-like eyes and a small head, was criticized and replaced with another one in the 2004 DVD release. The Empire Strikes Back (a.k.a. "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back", 1980) 1980 Star Wars original trilogy theatrical film. Written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan; directed by Irvin Kershner; produced by Gary Kurtz (orginal version) and Rick McCallum (Special Edition). Note: The film has been altered multiple times throughout the years, and different theatrical, television or home video editions could have major divergences; the version considered canonical is the latest one, currently being the 2014 Blu-ray Disc's or the 2018 streaming edition (the latter having slight differences to all other ones in the opening whiles). An opening crawl explains that, though the Death Star has been destroyed, the Galactic Empire has been ruthlessly hunting Rebel Alliance soldiers all across the galaxy. Darth Vader, obsessed with finding Luke Skywalker, has sent miriads of probe droids serching for him. In 3 ABY, an Imperial warship, Category:Franchises Category:Space opera Category:Used future Category:Supernatural